Improved material for lubricating and other purposes



M. P. EWING.

0n Still. No. 58.020 Patented Sept. 11, 1866.

6/ Inventon 4W AMA PHOTO-LITHQCK JNX. (OSBORNE'S PROCESS.)

Witnesses= I UNITED STATES PAT M. 1 EWING, or EocHEsrEE, NEW YORK,assieivon'ro H. B. EVEREST AND GEO. P. EWING.

IMPROVED MATERIAL FOR LUBRICATING AND OTHER PURPOSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,020, dated September11, 1866.

.TO all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, M. P. EWING, of Rochester, iu the county of Monroeand State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Product fromPetroleum for Lubricating, Gurrying, &c.; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full and exact description thereof, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a vacuum-still for producingthe oil; Fig. 2, a plan of the retort; Fig. 3,21 diagram, showing thesteam-pipe coils.

Like letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in all thefigures.

A patent has recently been allowed me for improvement in vacuum-stillsfor petroleum, one essential novelty consisting in the combination of acontinuous feed with the vacuumretort, by which I am enabled to maintain about the same level of the oil in the retort at all times, and bythe removal of atmospheric pressure raise the vapor by steam at acomparatively low temperature without the direct application of fire,and thereby avoid burning.

In addition to the production of a refined quality of volatile oil, Ialso produce as a residuum a material that possesses superior qualitiesover other similar products for lubricatin g, curryin g, and otherpurposes, and which may be burned in an ordinary sperm-oil lamp withoutdanger.

The drawings represent an apparatus for distilling, substantially thesame in principle as that covered by the aforementioned patent recentlygranted me.

A is a retort, into which the crude oil is continuously fed by a pipe,at, and from which the residuum is discharged by pipe b. In the bot tomof the retort are situated coils of steampipe 0 for heating the oil.

A neck or tube, B, connects the retort with a condenser, G, into whichthe oil-vapor is carried, and this vapor is condensed by a constant jetof Water entering from pipe (I. From the condenser the oil and water aredrawn by a pipe, f, connecting with a suitable pump, which also servesto exhaust the air from the apparatus; or, if desired, the air may beexhausted by a Torricellian tube, or by admitting steam, or any otherdesired method.

Air is admitted to the retort or condenser at any time by means of cocksg h. These constitute the general features of the apparatus by which Iam enabled to produce a residuum or product from the distillation of avery superior character, and possessing qualities that, so far as I amaware, were never known prior to my invention.

The crude or natural petroleum of heavy gravity, with but little or notreatment, has been used to some extent for lubricating purposes. Thelight or volatile elements, which always accompany it in its crudestate, have been a source of great annoyance, from the fact thattheydevelop themselves into oii'ensive odors when in use, and also from thefact that in most crude oils there is combined so large a proportion ofthese volatile elements as to render them of too light a gravity forlubricating purposes. These volatile portions also contain acidproperties, which act with damagingeffect upon most kinds of machinery.

The light hydrocarbon oils, so injurious to petroleum as a lubricator,comprise from fif-' teen to twenty per cent. in oils of heaviestgravity, and from thirty to sixty per cent. in oils of lighter gravity,as produced from the well. No successful method of separating thesevolatile and injurious portions, to any great extent, from petroleum,without injury to its heavier or oleaginous portions, has been known orpracticed up to the time of my invention, to the best of my knowledge orbelief.

Again, the residuumor black-oil, produced by distillation of the lighterportionsfrom crude petroleum under atmospheric pressure, which containsburnt paraftine matters and emits offensive odors, has been used for ma-.chinery, both separately and combined with unctuous oils. Itsimpurities and offensive odors have kept it from being extensively used;also, a heavy paraffine-oil, the last pro duct of destructivedistillation, is in limited use; but, being a distilled product, itevaporates again, and whether used as a lubricating-oil or as a curriersoil, it readily passes off by evaporation, which is a source ofdifficulty.

My invention consists in the production from the natural petroleum of anoil of heavy gravity, free from offensive odors, containing all theolcaginous and paraffine portions unburned, and having all, or nearlyall, the hydrocarbon and acid properties removed, so that it will notevaporate when used as a curriers oil, and is superior to all otherpetroleum-oils as a lubricator, and will stand the proper fire-test, andburns with success and safety in a common sperm-oil lamp.

The above beneficial results are produced and valuable oil obtained bythe employment of an apparatus, as herein described, whereby theoil-product in the retort is reduced to the

